There are approximately 4.6 billion cellular phone subscriptions in the world over which it is estimated that more than 2 trillion text (SMS) messages are sent annually. There are also over 800 million transportation vehicles in the world. The magnitude of these statistics indicates that cellular phone use in vehicles is inevitable and is likely to remain quite common, unless preventative measures are taken.
Drivers using a hand-held cellular phone or smartphone for talking, text messaging, and/or for executing other applications or ‘apps’ while driving has become a problem of near-epidemic proportions. Studies on distracted driving have shown that by talking on a cell phone, a driver increases his/her risk of an accident by a factor of four. Even worse, sending text messages increases a driver's accident risk 23-fold. Additionally, studies have shown that the temptation to use a cellular phone for texting, talking, and other activities while operating a vehicle is not limited to younger drivers—adult drivers have been shown to text more often than younger ones.
In response to this growing concern and danger, numerous regulatory actions have been put in place to attempt to mitigate such phone-based distractions to drivers. For example, in the United States, thirty states have banned drivers of vehicles from texting, and many have subsequently increased the penalties for such violations. Driving-while-texting has also been banned throughout Europe and many other countries around the world. Additionally, talking on a hand-held cellular phone while driving a vehicle has been banned in eight US states, and such cell phone use has been banned in all of Europe and in many other countries.
The effectiveness of these laws alone, without an effective means of enforcement, is questionable. Being that cellular phones are generally small and discreet and drivers are frequently in motion, it is often difficult for law enforcement personnel to effectively police for such violations. Indeed, statistics show that accidents arising from cellular phone-based distractions are increasing as the popularity of such devices increases.
Given the easy accessibility of cell phones to drivers, many drivers' apparent desire to operate their cellular phones while driving, and the difficulties attendant with enforcing laws prohibiting cellular phone use, it is likely that drivers will continue to use cellular phones for texting, talking, and/or other activities (e.g., playing games or running applications), for the foreseeable future.
Several solutions have been proposed to address illegal/unsafe cell phone usage by drivers of vehicles. Certain of these approaches seek to utilize a phone's on-board GPS and/or accelerometers to establish the likelihood that the phone is being used within a moving vehicle. If the data extracted from the GPS and/or the accelerometers indicates that the vehicle is moving, then the software in the cell phone deactivates “risky” cell phone functions or otherwise thwarts cell phone-based distractions (such solutions are commonly known as “blocking” solutions).
However, such solutions are incapable of distinguishing between the driver of a vehicle and a passenger in the same vehicle who should retain the right to use his/her cellular phone. There are various common driving scenarios where it would be advantageous for a passenger to use his/her cellular phone (such as to obtain driving directions). As such, the proposed “blocking” solutions entail substantial and critical shortcomings, as they often unnecessarily block a passenger's ability to use their cellular phone within a moving vehicle. This challenge of distinguishing between a passenger and a driver in a moving vehicle is commonly referred to as the “Passenger Problem”.
Other solutions addressing this problem of cellular phone use while driving require the pre-installation of a hardware device in the vehicle. Such devices are typically installed next to the driver and are used to transmit a short distance blocking signal, effectively creating a no-use zone around the driver's location within the car. Such devices prevent the driver (or anyone located within the no-use zone) from using a cellular phone by effectively deactivating the phone. However, such approaches are onerous in that they require that car-owners purchase and install the requisite additional hardware, creating significant impediments for widespread adoption. In addition, the costs of manufacturing and installing such hardware are rather high—approximately $100-$200 per cellular phone.
Yet other proposed solutions attempt to address the problem of cellular phone use while driving by utilizing text-to-voice technology, whereby email and text messages are spoken for the user (presumably the driver) while in a moving vehicle. However, such solutions also suffer from the Passenger Problem, i.e., the text-to-voice application does not know how to distinguish drivers (for whom the messages should be spoken) from passengers (for whom they should not be spoken). As such, substantial confusion can arise in a moving car with several passengers carrying cellular phones. In such a scenario, each of the cellular phones of the various passengers will recite the messages received by the respective phone, since such solutions also cannot distinguish between the cellular phone of the driver and the phones of the passengers.
In addition, other proposed solutions seek to block all texting and/or other applications by administering a small test or puzzle to the user. The time that it takes the user to solve to the test/puzzle can dictate whether the user is a driver or a passenger. However, it can be readily appreciated that such an approach, paradoxically, further distracts a driver who attempts to use his/her cellular phone while driving, rather than actually increasing the driver's safety.
It is with respect to these and other considerations that the disclosure made herein is presented.